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A war comparable to World War II has broken out at Watoto Ministries, a year after founders Gary and Marilyn Skinner stepped down from their 40-year leadership role and handed over the reins to Pastor Julius Ruvotronio and his wife, Vinita.
The current war between some of the alumni and current leadership of the Wattoto Church threatens to tear the once successful church apart.
The Watoto Alumni are those children who were adopted by the Watoto Church as underprivileged children, grew up and received education in the Watoto Village/Home and the School of Hope, and completed their education.
For those who are unfamiliar, the Wattoto Church is a non-profit organisation registered as a company limited by guarantee that runs various income generating projects besides collecting church donation money from sheep during services.
Watoto built villages with schools, churches, health centers and homes, where orphans and widows formed new families and lived there.
There are currently three villages: Bbira and Suubi near Kampala and Laminadera in Gulu.
Other projects include a home for babies, vocational training and supporting village farms.
There is also the Wattoto Children’s Choir, which tours internationally every year and attracts a lot of funding.
About 1,000 Ugandans passed through the Watoto village and became productive citizens.
Therefore, some alumni (Mutoto) usually return (after completing their studies) to work in various departments or branches of Watoto Ministries.
What they are worried about now is that after the founders exit Watoto operations, the new leadership will treat them as insects that should be immediately exterminated: they will not be allowed to appear near any Watoto project.
The new leadership is now said to prefer recruiting relatives, friends and outsiders who have never been through the Watoto system.
“Watotto alumni are being denied the opportunity to serve at all levels of Watoto. The numbers currently employed are unsatisfactory, but these alumni know Watoto inside and out,” the alumni wrote about the current situation at Watoto in a protest letter to Watoto founders Pastors Gary and Marilyn Skinner.
They claimed that some current staff were unaware of the “reason” for Watoto’s existence as most of them had entered through the backdoor and were new and therefore unaware of the ministry’s modus operandi.
“The future of Wattoto has always been bright, as can be seen from its growth and development since the beginning of the 21st century. Only the evil intentions, greed for money, quick success and lack of morals and values of the present generation will disrupt the system,” the Wattoto alumni further told the founder in the protest letter.
They say relations between top leaders and their subordinates have now deteriorated sharply.
For these alumni, Wattoto has now become an arena for personal business opportunities, while government jobs are no longer valued.
They now vow to fight to the end.
“We will not sit idly by and lament what is happening in Watoto, but as concerned Ugandan citizens and Watoto alumni, we are still children of Watoto, our homeland. As such, we are partially concerned about the potential problems it faces and have an obligation to offer possible remedies to address them. We are not sadists or self-seekers, but stewards and promoters of peace, humane attitudes and coexistence.”
According to the alumni, despite the efforts of the founders (Gary and Marilyn Skinner), especially the support of others and donations from European and African countries, “the future of Wattoto may be in trouble as people from all walks of life come with their plans to use Wattoto as a platform to achieve their selfish and crude motives”.
“They have made mistakes because of this, and they continue to mess up. But as concerned citizens, and having grown up in Watoto, we must firmly adopt a zero-tolerance approach to anyone who denigrates Watoto for its ill-gotten gains.”
The alumni are currently inviting the founders to force the current leadership to review the management of Wattoto at church, school and village levels.
They also hope that the current leadership will recognize the role of the Watoto alumni and allow them to be employed, visit, teach, mentor and coach children in church homes and villages.
“So we cannot sit idly by when we see self-interested people trying to do things to crush people’s dreams because we too have achieved our dreams through the priceless education, healthcare and housing that we have enjoyed for free and others must have access to those dreams anyway.
“The wrong disciples are leaving an indelible mark on people’s hearts. Helping someone is tantamount to suicide and will only make Wattoto curse and shout about Wattoto’s (appalling) condition in public…”
According to sources, the alumni who were later expelled included Mesach Buleeya, Joseph Kasasa, Elizabeth Namuyomba, Agnes Kobusingye, Brian Busuulwa, Gladys Nansubuga, Jonah Ssekitoleko, Twaha Kasese, Patrick Wasswa and others.
Pandora’s Box
Although the Wattoto Church states on its website that it remains committed to providing help to all those who face moral and sexual problems in their lives, its alumni insist that if the allegations of sexual immorality in the Wattoto village are true, then the practice is like talking about water while drinking wine, which we will reveal in subsequent publications.
Alumni further painted a picture of government departments being controlled by mafia groups whose members prioritize themselves over scrutiny, transparency and accountability.
The same group also sought to establish a system of patronage and corruption to enrich themselves through the continuous manipulation of Wattoto’s systems, processes, policies and activities.
Issues raised included neglect of the mission and vision of Watoto, low morale, declining job performance, inappropriate family behaviour, declining educational standards in Watoto Hope Schools (primary and secondary), flamboyant leadership by some individuals, unsatisfactory recruitment standards at Watoto and misuse of donations.
Other issues include unfair deductions from teachers’ and mothers’ salaries, high turnover of teachers, lack of electricity connection to homes, unresolved food distribution issues in homes and villages, price hikes and violation of procurement guidelines especially in land purchase, supply of inferior goods to Watoto homes at high prices, takeover of Watoto properties/estates by individual leaders, high-handedness of some leaders, weak household management, increase in thefts in Watoto homes, alcoholism and misbehaviour by some mothers and older boys etc. which we will cover in our series.
“In order to maintain the decorum of WaToTo and avoid further public attacks on the WaToTo government and its top leaders, serious attention needs to be paid to any form of allegations, warnings and facts to avoid unprecedented challenges in the future where the perpetrators may be nowhere to be found. Being proactive requires reliable, self-defensive people to work together or never compromise in dealing with these big issues,” the alumni advised founders Gary and Marilyn Skinner.
Stay tuned here for more details on the decay at the Wattoto Church and the people behind it.
CNN has contacted Wattoto Church for comment.
Founded in 1984 by Gary and Marilyn Skinner, the Watoto Church currently has 17 branches in Kampala, Nbarara, Entebbe, Jinja, Gulu, Juba and other places of worship in South Sudan, as well as online, with more than 35,000 believers attending services each year.
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